White Christmas
by mylittleartscapes
Summary: Anna wants a white Christmas, but the weather won't cooperate. Her sister isn't that helpful, either.
1. Chapter 1

In the first week of December, an unseasonal warm spell hit the Nordic kingdom of Arendelle. This sort of thing happened every decade or so: the air temperature would suddenly spike up several degrees and a few days of alternating sunshine and warm rain effectively melted all of the existing snow on the ground. Only a few measly little piles remained, remnants of what once were giant piles of cold powder.

For the Princess of Arendelle, this natural phenomenon was about as unnerving as a freak snowstorm in the middle of July. December was _the_ month of winter, meaning it was supposed to have snow – not _rain_. She was supposed to be outside building snowmen, and having snowball fights, and making snow angels, and attempting to skate, and sledding down snowy hills – _not_ sitting at her bedroom window, looking sadly outside as the gray sky released fat drops of water down to the ground below. Heck, even if she _was_ inside, she was supposed to be sitting by a roaring fire while snow softly fell outside the window.

She remembered the same thing happening a few years ago, when she was twelve. She remembered attempting to enjoy the last of the slushy snow, only to end up tracking mud all through the castle and being scolded by her parents. She remembered hoping and praying for snow all month long. She remembered her disappointment that for the first time she could remember, there was a green Christmas in Arendelle.

At the time, she had no idea why it was so important for it to snow around the holidays. It was definitely something more than it not feeling like Christmas without snow – it had something to do with her go-to phrase to try and bring her sister out of her room.

Asking, and singing, and begging her older sister: "Do you want to build a snowman?" always immediately followed her knock on the snowflake-patterned door as a greeting, even in the middle of summer. She did not know exactly why she needed to say it, but she did remember her sister _always_ responding to it in the past. But then things suddenly and quite painfully changed, and no matter what she tried, her sister would not acknowledge her. At least in the winter, however, there actually was snow, so there was a real reason for asking about snowmen.

Now, however, Princess Anna was older and had been through and seen a number of things that, if she had the chance to travel back in time and tell her past self about them, she would never have believed.

Her once reclusive older sister, Elsa, was known as the Snow Queen of Arendelle.

It was not because the young Queen was cold hearted. In fact it was quite the opposite. No, Queen Elsa was called the Snow Queen because she possessed a rare and incredibly powerful magic within her heart and soul: she had the power to control ice and snow. It had been through a series of tragic and unfortunate events surrounding her powers that led to her being forced to hide them from everyone, including her sister. But all secrets eventually have to come out, and on the night of her coronation, Elsa's darkest secret revealed itself.

However, after everything was fixed and explanations were given, things settled down into a state of normalcy. Elsa took up the mantle of absolute monarch and ruled Arendelle with humility and graciousness. She had not even been Queen for six months, and already people saw her as one of the best rulers Arendelle has ever had. Anna spent her plentiful free time with the two people she cared the most about in the whole world: her ice harvester boyfriend, Kristoff, and her sister. The people of Arendelle quickly accepted a sorceress as their Queen and, if anything, loved her more for her unique gift despite knowing what it could do.

Anna sighed heavily as she stared out the window. She was no stranger to boredom, but now she was bored _and_ depressed. It was not supposed to be raining in December, and yes, she was aware that she had thought this bitterly about two minutes ago.

Then she suddenly remembered something that made her smack herself in the forehead. "Oh my gosh, I'm an idiot," she muttered as she sprung to her feet, "I know _exactly_ how to fix this!" And with that, she sprinted out of her room.

* * *

><p>Queen Elsa had spent much of her life alone, out of what she had deemed necessity. Now that the gates were open, along with many of her internal doors, she no longer had to be alone all the time. That did not mean that she did not enjoy the solitude every now and then. It was especially welcome when she had piles of documents to go through in her study, as privacy meant silence, and silence meant getting work done with ease.<p>

And if there was ever anyone who was the best at shattering silence, it was her sister, Anna.

Anna threw the doors to the study wide open so forcefully that they crashed against the walls as they swung apart, but Anna was too excited to notice. "Elsa!" she shouted happily, "I just had the best idea _ever_!"

Elsa was too busy trying to restart her heart to find amusement in that statement. "Does this idea involve knocking, by any chance?" she wondered as she thawed her quill, which had spontaneously frozen over when she jumped in surprise.

Anna's eyes brightened. "Yes, it does, actually," she stated proudly. She then reached for one of the doors and rapped her signature knock on the wood. "_Do you wanna build a snowman?_" she sang happily.

Elsa chuckled warmly. "In a few minutes, Anna. I just need to finish this letter–"

"_But we can't do it right now…"_ Anna continued to sing, dancing into the room as she did.

"I just said in a few–"

"_Because it's warm and wet outside, and though I've tried, I simply don't know how."_

"What are you talking about?"

"_The season's s'pposed to be pretty, clean and white. So what are we gonna do?"_

Elsa merely waited for her to finish with an eyebrow raised.

Anna put on her best puppy-dog eyes and pleading smile. "_Do you wanna bring back winter?"_

Elsa sighed. "Anna, you know how I feel about altering the weather," she began slowly.

"Oh come on, Elsa! You're the Snow Queen! And it's _winter_, for crying out loud! Arendelle should be a snowy wonderland! Instead, it's all wet and muddy and definitely _not _festive."

"Technically, winter doesn't start until the solstice in a few weeks," Elsa reminded her as she went back to writing.

"It still snowed last month," Anna protested, "And it gets dark stupidly early and stays that way for a really long time. To me, that counts as winter."

"Anna, I know you're a fan of snow this time of year, but I can only tell you to be patient," Elsa told her gently, yet firmly, "It will eventually snow in time for Christmas."

"So you _are_ going to make it snow," Anna falsely confirmed.

"No," Elsa responded as she looked up from her work, "I told you already, I won't alter the natural order of the weather unless it's a _dire_ emergency. Simply not having a white Christmas doesn't count."

"Then how do you know it's gonna snow?"

Elsa shrugged before dipping her pen and writing some more. "I don't know. I just do," she stated unhelpfully.

"Ugh, why do you have to be such a stickler for the rules?" Anna whined.

"Oh, yes, because the laws of _nature_ are just so restricting and pointless," Elsa retorted sarcastically.

"Can't you make it snow, like, _this_ much?" Anna begged, holding her index and thumb about three inches apart from each other.

"No," Elsa replied without even looking up.

Anna pinched her fingers a little closer together. "What about this?"

Elsa sighed and set her pen down before facing her sister. "How about this?" she said in the voice she often saved for discussions with her council, "I'll turn the ballroom into your own personal winter getaway and you stop pestering me."

"But you _always_ do that!"

"You make it sound like snow indoors is boring."

"Duh! That's cuz it is now! Elsa, I want the real thing!"

"I'm sorry, Anna, but that's not going to happen."

Anna's face turned serious with determination. "Fine. I _won't_ stop pestering you until you do it," she threatened.

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Elsa asked with an eyebrow raised sceptically.

"Like this," Anna told her before grabbing a chair and plunking herself down right across the desk from her sister. She threw both feet roughly up onto the polished wooden surface and reclined in a comfortable, albeit rather unladylike fashion and demanded, "Make it snow."

Elsa scowled at her. "You think _that_ is going to do anythi–"

"Make it snow," Anna repeated stubbornly.

Elsa let out an exasperated breath. "That's not going to work."

"Make it snow."

"I should remind you that I have endless patience."

"Make it snow." That time, Anna's tone also replied, "_So do I_."

Elsa glared at her sister for a few minutes before simply deciding to ignore her. She dipped her pen and got to work. After a few minutes, her sister's voice broke the silence: "Make it snow."

Elsa chose not to show any indication that she had heard the demand, and continued working. The hours ticked by slowly, and time was regulated more by Anna's voice every two minutes than it was by the ticking clock in the corner of the room. Her voice never changed from that frustrating monotone, and her words never shifted from those three, infuriating words.

Elsa did not want to admit that she was bothered by it, but _boy_, was she bothered by it. It was all she could do to keep her hand from trembling with her growing anger. She had long surpassed annoyed with her sister and as the clock chimed the hour, signifying a full two hours spent with regular verbal jabs shattering her concentration, she was livid underneath a mask of calm neutrality.

"Make it snow."

Elsa's head suddenly snapped up from the letter she had been attempting to finish since Anna had shown up in her office. She loved her sister dearly, but like any sibling relationship, sometimes _someone_ would over-stay their welcome.

Anna felt her heart stop for a second when she made eye contact with those frigid, sapphire orbs. She quickly removed her feet from the desk and straightened up in her seat. "Uh, heh heh, don't suppose I changed your mind?" she asked nervously.

She noticed that the quill had frozen over again, but this time instead of thawing it, Elsa tightened her grip on it so much that it shattered like brittle, delicate glass in her hand. "Get out," she growled.

"No," Anna initially stated boldly. She would not be shut out by her sister again, and besides, she made a vow to stay until Elsa brought winter back to Arendelle. "Not until you make it snow."

Elsa started to make it snow, alright, but in the study instead of outside. Anna had a sinking suspicion that she was not doing it on purpose, either. The air started to spiral around the Queen as it does whenever she was particularly upset, ruffling the papers on the desk and sucking all of the warm air out of the room rather quickly.

Anna would have fought back, but a flashback to another time she pushed her sister too far with these warning signs stopped her. She decided it best to leave before ice exploded out of Elsa's core like it did the last time, with a shard of it ending up in the Princess's heart. "Ok, ok. I'll leave," she said quickly as she got up and hastily made her exit, "But this is not over."

She closed the door. A second later there was a dull thump on the other side, and a small point of an icicle poking through the wood of the door appeared out of nowhere. "Ok, maybe I shouldn't bother her _that_ much," she mumbled to herself.


	2. Chapter 2

The next week went by slowly. The weather remained dreary and too warm. For Anna, the sunny days were distressing, as the longer they continued, the fewer days she had for it to snow before the holidays.

Her mission to get Elsa to come around was going about as well as one might think. Elsa had thirteen years of attempting to shut her sister out behind her that, on the surface at least, helped her ignore the persistent "Make it snow" commands.

However, what Anna did not know was that Elsa had _never_ been good at shutting her sister out. The only thing that made it seem so was the door separating them, blocking their views of each other. The problem was that Elsa cared about Anna more than anyone else, so simply ignoring her was almost impossible to do. And after thirteen years of being forced to do so, she wanted nothing more but to give Anna her undivided attention for the rest of her life.

Now, though, Anna was pushing her luck. Elsa had gone from trying to pretend to ignore her sister to actually trying to ignore her sister, but it was a task that was proving _very_ difficult. Each morning she awoke to a note tacked to her door: "_Make it snow. Love Anna."_ Each day at breakfast, Anna would appear from seemingly nowhere and start bombarding her with the demand. She would then follow her around the castle until she went to the study, repeating those words over and over. Thankfully she had enough sense to stay out of the study while Elsa was working. But she was always waiting just outside to follow Elsa to her bedroom at the end of the day.

But after about five days of this, she started getting Kai and Gerda involved. The poor butler and maid had no choice in the matter: they were sent in on the Princess's orders to ask the Queen for snow. Elsa rolled her eyes at it at first, but once Anna started commanding her council members to put forth motions to snow-in Arendelle, the Queen finally drew the line. Disrupting her peace was one thing, but messing with state affairs was another.

Anna hesitantly entered the Queen's study after Kai had told her that her sister wished to see her. "You, um, wanted to see me, Elsa?"

Elsa looked up from her work with obvious fake surprise. "Really? You're not going to ask me for snow?" she asked overdramatically, "Seeing as that is the _only_ thing you've said to me for eight days in a row."

"Don't suppose it's changed your mind?" Anna wondered.

Elsa smiled and gestured to the empty chair in front of her desk. "Take a seat, Anna," she said in a voice that had no room for argument.

Anna gulped nervously and did as she was told.

"Now," Elsa said professionally, setting her quill down and folding her hands on the desk, "We need to have a little talk."

"I swear I'm not doing anything with Kristoff!" Anna shouted defensively.

That disarmed her sister for a moment. "What? What are you talking about?" she demanded.

"Nothing. Nothing at all," Anna replied quickly.

Elsa shot her a suspicious glare before getting back on subject. "I understand you're my little sister, and we've lost a bit of time from our childhood for you to pester me in such childish ways, but do remember that you _are_ eighteen and the Crown Princess. So I kindly ask that you keep whatever quarrels we have _outside_ of the council room."

"Ooh, so Councilman Albertsen _actually_ asked you, did he?" Anna questioned with a wince.

"He did," Elsa stated flatly, "But he did promptly cover himself by stating that _you_ had ordered him to ask."

"He didn't _have_ to…"

"He did if he held any value for the royal family, as our word technically has higher value than others," Elsa explained dryly, "So whenever you go about commanding people to waste my time, they _have_ to do it until I release them from it."

"Sorry," Anna whispered.

Elsa sighed heavily. "I know you want it to snow for Christmas, Anna. But there are still two weeks to go. Stop worrying so much. And do try to understand the value of _me_ telling you to relax."

"But, but…" Anna sputtered in vain, "I _need_ it to snow!"

"No, you don't. You _want_ it to snow, but it is not necessary."

"But Elsa–"

Elsa held up a hand to silence her sister. "Now, we have to discuss your punishment."

"_Punishment_?" Anna demanded angrily.

"You _have_ been going around annoying not only me, but most of the staff and council. This has gone on long enough," Elsa explained coolly, "You are to remain in _that_ spot for the rest of the day. And you are not to make a sound."

"I can't do that!" Anna cried in distress.

"You had best figure out a way, because if you don't, then no chocolate for a month."

"You wouldn't _dare_."

"Try me."

Anna crossed her arms and pouted. "You're no fun," she stated.

"A reminder that your time starts now," Elsa sighed as she returned to her work.

Anna exhaled angrily and sunk down in her seat. There were many different things she wanted to say, but she had no idea if Elsa was serious about her threat. Deciding not to risk it, she sat silently and stewed in her grumpiness.

Eventually she simmered down and watched her sister work diligently on documents and reports. She observed how Elsa maintained her mask of stoicism while she worked, until she came upon something that brought a slight frown to her face. Anna was not sure if it was confusion, disagreement, or uncertainty, but she was unsettled by it regardless of its cause. Elsa always seemed to frown more than she smiled these days. Granted, it was always little frowns like these, and not the ones that revealed the misery that Anna _knew_ she still felt every now and then. Seeing that frown on her sister's face now reminded her of why she _really_ wanted snow in the first place.

Elsa had always been happiest when it snowed.

Elsa, meanwhile, was busy reading a report on the crop yields from the past autumn when she noticed that Anna had remained quiet for nearly half an hour. Elsa looked up to see her sister gazing out the window absentmindedly. She followed her gaze to view the dreary gray sky that was only yielding rain. Her frown deepened.

Anna was only being Anna after all. She never knew exactly when she had taken something too far until it was too late. She was a perpetual ball of energy and excitement. But now she was sitting very still and quiet, her expression downturned and contemplative. Elsa hated seeing her like that, as it was entirely _not_ Anna-like behaviour. At this point, though, she knew there was only one thing that would cheer her sister up.

Anna had always been happiest when it snowed.

Elsa sighed loud enough to draw Anna's attention. Once the Queen had locked eyes with her sister, she said quietly, "Christmas Eve."

"What?" Anna replied with the same tentative tone.

"If it hasn't snowed by Christmas Eve, then I'll make it snow."

Anna's face immediately brightened. "Really?" she squeaked excitedly, "Oh, but what about your vow to never tamper with the weather?"

Elsa shot her a deadpanned glare that said for her: "Now_ you're suddenly concerned with that?_" But she cleared her throat softly and said, "I think it'll be ok if I alter things for one day. It can't be any worse than what I did in July."

Anna bounced up and down in her seat. "Oh my gosh, _thank you_! You're amazing! You're awesome! You're…you're the _best_ sister ever!" she squealed.

Elsa chuckled at her sister's antics. "Thank you for the praise, Anna, but it may not even be necessary," she said as she began to get back to work, "I still have a feeling that it'll snow naturally before Christmas day."

"Maybe it will, but at least now I have a back up!" Anna stated happily. She shot out of her seat and bounded around her sister's desk to smother her in an awkward and tight hug. "Thank you _so_ much, Elsa!"

Elsa struggled to squirm free of Anna's embrace just enough to be able to take a strangled breath. "You're welcome, Anna. Now do you promise not to go around bothering people about snow from now until the holidays?"

"I promise," Anna said sincerely as she released her sister.

Elsa nodded. "Alright. You're free for the day."

Anna smiled sheepishly. "Actually, I was wondering if it was ok if I hung out here for a while?" she questioned softly, "I was thinking about how we don't spend enough time together, and this was kinda fun…you know, except for the whole sitting perfectly still and silent part. Seriously, how do you do it?"

Elsa laughed. "Lots of practice. And yes, you may stay here if you like. Just…try not to make _too_ much noise."

Anna's grin widened. "You got it. I'll go get the book I started and I'll be right back!" she said as she headed out the door, "Don't have too much fun without me!"

Elsa looked down at the report that should be read to small children to get them to fall asleep. "You don't have to worry about that," she muttered as she went back to work.


	3. Chapter 3

The weeks slipped away quickly. Elsa's promise to Anna soon spread throughout the kingdom – though Anna would never say who let it slip. As it turned out, the people of Arendelle also were unimpressed by the rainy weather, especially the children. However, upon hearing that the Queen would publically display her incredible magic on Christmas Eve if there was no real snow by then, the villagers began praying for more of the warm weather. After all, _magic_ snow would obviously make the season the most magical.

Soon enough, the day finally arrived. Anna actually woke up early for perhaps the first time _ever_. She leapt out of bed and immediately threw open her curtains. The dark land was still void of snow, but that was fine: she had a Plan B.

Seeing as the holidays allowed her to go through a few days without worrying about paperwork, Elsa was sleeping in for perhaps the first time ever. Everything was perfect: her bed was warm, her blankets soft, her room quiet, and her sleep peaceful. She was so deep in her sleep that she did not hear the approaching footsteps of someone who was clumsy, barefoot and running as fast as they could until the door to her room had practically been kicked open. She was semi-conscious when the steps abruptly ended, and wide-awake when something Anna-sized and bony came crashing down on top of her.

"Elsa!" Anna exclaimed as she bounced up and down on the bed before settling on sharply shaking her sister's shoulder, "Wake up, wake up, _wake up_!"

"Oh _god_, I think you broke something," Elsa groaned into her pillow, trying to ignore the pain from where Anna's knee had collided with her back.

"It's Christmas Eve! You know what that means?" Anna asked excitedly, as she reached for one of Elsa's eyes and pried the lid open.

"I should be sleeping in?" Elsa responded dryly.

"No time for that! Get up!" And with that, Anna sprung off the bed and grabbed the blankets. She had hoped to just remove the covers, but it would seem that at some point in the night, Elsa had wrapped her blankets around herself tightly, meaning that with a good, sharp tug, the Queen was sent to the floor to land in a pile of linen. Anna had to admit, turning the tables felt good.

Elsa fought through the mess in annoyance before finally freeing her head. "Was _that_ really necessary?" she shot grumpily.

"To be fair, I wasn't expecting that to happen," Anna admitted honestly, "But it was funny. Nice bedhead, by the way."

Elsa rolled her eyes before getting up with as much dignity as she could muster. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror, and grimaced slightly at what Anna had been referring to: the ice she used to keep her hair in check had melted overnight, meaning that all the short bits that did not fit into her braid were flying every which way and falling messily into her eyes. The braid itself did not fair that well, either.

She yawned before wandering over to her wardrobe to pick out her outfit for the day. "Would you mind telling me why you're up this early? And why is it so important for _me_ to be up right this second?" she wondered.

Anna merely waltzed over to the window and drew the blinds. "What do you see, my dear sister?" she questioned slyly.

"Arendelle," Elsa replied sleepily before cluing in, "Lacking snow."

"Exactly," Anna stated, "Sooo… Do you wanna build a snowman?"

Elsa looked outside again before turning back to her sister, the playful, impish grin Anna loved present on her face. "I would _love_ to, Anna."

In no less than an hour, both royals were fully dressed and bounding down the main staircase toward the front door. Anna was in the lead, practically dragging her sister along and giggling her head off the whole time. Elsa was not exactly the image of calm, either, but there was an attempt on her part to tone her sister down a little bit. Anna was too caught up in her excitement to notice.

They threw open the doors to the courtyard, only to be met with as many eager citizens that the square could hold. Elsa shot a confused glance at Anna, who merely smiled sheepishly and said, "I may have told a few people that you were gonna make it snow on Christmas Eve…"

"A few?" Elsa whispered back, "The entire city is here."

"That's ok. You've done public displays before," Anna told her confidently. Noticing that Elsa's shoulders had tensed up and she was fiddling with her hands, Anna added gently, "You'll be fine, Elsa."

Elsa turned to stare into her sister's earnest eyes. She slowly allowed a small smile to form on her lips, before heading to the center of the courtyard. The crowd parted for her as she walked forward. Anna followed along eagerly, but remained behind just a little once Elsa stopped to give her sister some space.

Elsa took a deep breath before glancing around at the crowd again. Whole families were present, along with shopkeepers, dockworkers, guards and even a few rough-looking men who probably had less-than-ethical employment. But every single person was watching her with eager grins, some even bouncing up and down in excitement. The children present could barely contain themselves as they waited to see magical snow float down from the sky. Elsa felt the rush of happiness and adrenaline she had felt back in July when she thawed her unintentional winter, and had then given a public display of her powers to show people that she did in fact have control over them. Her doubts were washed away, and she found herself asking the crowd energetically, "Are you ready?"

The crowd responded with cheers and applause. Children laughed and nodded their heads up and down. The gang of ruffians hoisted their swords high in the air and roared in approval. She even spotted some of her councilmembers – the older, stiffer ones who never had anything nice to say – allowing smiles to form their expressions.

"Alright," she laughed as she began to roll her hands over each other, forming a glowing blue ball of magic between them, "Let's make this a white Christmas!" With that, she released to orb high into the sky. Once it reached the cloud layer, it exploded like a firework in the sky. Shimmering blue particles flew out in every direction, but instead of falling down, they went up into the clouds. The overcast sky shifted from a miserable rainy grey to snowy silver, and within seconds, snowflakes began to float downwards. The temperature dropped just enough to keep to snow around, but not enough to be bitter. As an added bonus, Elsa stomped her foot into the ground to turn the center of the courtyard into an ice rink once more, before freezing the fountains into spiralling sculptures of ice.

Everyone cheered again, before laughter and happy conversations filled the air. People began skating around on the perfect sheet of ice, while others wandered around to view the artistic ice spreading around the castle. One of the ruffians swapped out his sword for a guitar missing a string and began to play, prompting his cohorts and a few palace guards to begin singing Christmas carols together. Children raced toward the snow, which as very quickly accumulating on the ground, to begin making ammunition for a snowball fight.

Anna shakily made her way over to her sister, since she still was not that great at moving around on ice. "Told ya you'd be fine," she stated with a grin, "And just in case I haven't said it enough yet, _thank you_!" She enveloped the Queen in a hug, only to nearly bring them both to the ground when her feet slipped out from under her. Fortunately, Elsa had enough balance for the both of them.

Anna released her sister and looked around. "The snow's piling up," she observed.

"Yes. I gave the clouds enough for about a foot of it, and then the sky should clear up. I don't want to bury the kingdom, after all," Elsa said as they moved off the rink, "Now, is there anything special you wanted to do today? We basically have the whole day to ourselves."

Anna thought hard for a minute, before gasping gleefully. "I know! Come on!" she cried, grabbing hold of Elsa's hand and proceeding to drag her toward the main gate, "And you'd better warm up those powers of yours, cuz you'll be using them a lot today!"

"Wait, what?" Elsa replied, "What are you– Whoa!" Anna had already started to run while still maintaining an iron grip on Elsa's hand, which meant that the Queen now had to be running, too.

Anna guided her through the crowds of people, narrowly missing several people and about a dozen light posts. Finally Elsa got a sense of where they were going when Anna slowed to a stop in front of the giant Christmas tree in the middle of the square. Lanterns were hanging off the bows to be lit up at night, but it was void of most other decorations. The Princess merely gestured to the tree, and said, "Go nuts."

"Anna, I'm not sure–"

"I met the mayor in town the other day. He was saying how he wished there could be more decorations on this tree, but with it being outside, there's not much else they can put on it. And because it's been so wet and windy lately, the lanterns don't fair too well," Anna explained, "Oh if only we knew someone who not only knew how to make winter-proof ornaments, but also could, I dunno, make magical ice that happens to glow in the dark if she wants it to."

Elsa looked at the tree, Anna, then back to the tree.

"Come on, Elsa, I'm talking about you," Anna deadpanned.

"I know, but I… This is different from what I do to the castle."

"Elsa," Anna sighed as she took her sister's hands in hers, "People love what you do, no matter what."

"But what if–"

Anna suddenly released her and turned to the people gathering in the square. "Who wants Queen Elsa to decorate this tree properly?" she shouted happily.

The people responded with just as much joy. Words of encouragement and pleading for a show filled the snowy air as more and more people gathered around them. One man mentioned something about decorating the whole town, and upon hearing that several children began cheering loudly for that to happen.

Anna then looked back at her sister. "You see? They want you to," she stated. Then, in a soft voice only Elsa could hear, she added, "Do the magic."

* * *

><p>One festive whirlwind of a day later, the Queen and Princess found themselves curled up under a thick blanket on the highest balcony of the castle, watching the aurora through breaks in the clouds. Arendelle glowed warmly below them, the orange lights from the lanterns and torches sparking off the white snow on the ground. They could see the tree in the town square, a beacon of icy blue amongst the firelight. Much of the ice adorning window frames, eaves and gables of the town houses shone with a similar glow.<p>

After Elsa had decorated the tree, she had moved on to the houses and shops. Her unique style of rose mailing made the whole town look like something out of a fairy tale. It was very geometric, yet free and elegant. The lines were straight, and the angles precise, but it was not rigid. It was different from tradition, yet it followed tradition's forms. It was Elsa, and the people loved it.

After that, Anna had them build about twenty different snowmen with the town children, before starting a seemingly kingdom-wide snowball fight. When everyone had finally grown exhausted from that, the royals wandered around town, wishing people happy holidays and chatting about family and plans for celebrations. Later that day, it became apparent that the courtyard rink was not big enough, so Elsa pre-maturely froze a section of the fjord to expand the skating area, being sure to create a decorative ice fence along the edge of the ice to keep people from falling into the frigid water. And it was there that they stayed until dinnertime. Anna had been shivering like an excited small dog, her nose running and her fingers numb, but she was ecstatically happy regardless. Not only had she spent the whole day doing fun things with her sister, but those fun things involved snow that would stick around for Christmas. She could not wait to do it all again the following day.

After dinner, Elsa had been planning on reading in the library, but Anna had noticed that the clouds had cleared a little and the Northern Lights were on full display behind the misty veil. And so, here they were on the balcony on the castle's main tower. Elsa insisted that Anna take a blanket to wrap around herself, and Anna insisted that she only would if Elsa would cuddle underneath it with her.

"Thank you, again," Anna sighed as she rested her head on her sister's shoulder, "This day was amazing."

"You're welcome, Anna," Elsa chuckled, "I am well aware of that."

Anna stared up at the sky. "The sky is _really_ awake tonight," she observed.

Elsa laughed softly. "You still use that expression?" she asked softly.

"Well, yeah. The auroras are magic in the sky. Therefore, it is awake," Anna stated matter-of-factly, "You don't?"

"Not since I learned that the aurora's are really just energy from the sun interacting with the atmosphere," Elsa replied.

Anna was silent for a moment. "I like my explanation better," she said.

Elsa smiled and playfully rolled her eyes. "Well, one of us had to be a realist," she sighed.

Anna yawned. "Funny that it's you," she murmured as she snuggled closer to her sister and closed her eyes, "The one with _magic powers_ is the realistic one in this family. Who would've thought?"

Elsa laughed softly at Anna's sleepy joke. She adjusted the blanket so it better covered the Princess before letting out a long, relaxed breath. She closed her eyes for a minute to simply enjoy the moment: the sounds of the cool breeze blowing softly through the town, the waves crashing on the breakwater, the distant howl of a wolf, and the sound of bells attached to a horse-drawn sled trotting through the streets; and the warmth of her sister nestled against her comfortably.

Then she felt something on her cheek. She opened her eyes to see a small snowflake float down to land on her foot. She looked up to see more following behind, all coming from a naturally formed cloud.

Anna also felt them, and was roused from her nap. She sleepily looked up at her sister, and muttered, "You could have shaken me awake. Why the snowflakes?"

Elsa grinned. "It's not me this time," she said simply.

Anna stared at her with confusion before a fat flake landed right on her nose. She looked down at it and observed it melt away before it suddenly clicked: it was _really_ snowing. "Elsa!" she gasped, "It's snowing! It's _really_ snowing! Not that your snow isn't real, but this is _real_ real snow, and oh my gosh! It's _snowing_!"

Anna leapt to her feet and leaned over the railing of the balcony, craning her neck as if to see if the rest of the kingdom was also getting snow. Elsa rose from the ground and followed after her so she could wrap the blanket Anna had left behind around the Princess before she froze. Suddenly, the clock in the square chimed midnight. "Look at that," Elsa said lightly, "I told you it would snow before Christmas day."

Anna laughed. "Yeah, _two whole minutes_ before Christmas day," she scoffed playfully. She took Elsa's hand in hers, and gave it a small squeeze. "I did enjoy the magic snow more, though," she admitted softly.

"Consider it an early gift, then," Elsa replied warmly as she pulled her sister in for a hug, "Merry Christmas, Anna."

"Merry Christmas to you, too, Elsa," Anna whispered, "I love you."

"I love you, too."

"And…thank you."

"You said that already…and you're welcome."


End file.
